Inequalities
by ItsRagtime
Summary: Math class is interesting this year...


**PRESTORY RAMBLE**

UPDATED MOAR! I deleted the alternate ending because it made me angry. Rawr!

But anyway, enjoy the story! Yay! Isn't this message completely unnecessary? :]

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

_Ugh. Math class. My least favorite class in the entire day (hah, guess who this fanfic's about XP). At least I have lunch to look forward to afterwards._

Seats were assigned, and Emma Yeki sat down in hers. Front _row... not bad_, she thought. It was the first day of her freshman school year, and rumor had it that this math teacher had his quirks.

The teacher stood up from his chair and scanned the classroom, smirking. Emma did some scanning herself to evaluate this so-called "math fetishist".

_Is he really 18? That's what some of the older kids were saying... but how? I heard he hasn't even been to college and he's a mathematical mastermind..._

"Alright, hectopascals!" the 18-year-old teacher practically screamed to the students. "The other teachers may have been taking it easy on you, but I'm not the other teachers. We're starting out with cold, hard rules, zeroes!"

The freshmen exchanged worried looks around the room.

"FIRST!!" the instructor shouted after revealing a megaphone from behind his back, "I AM TO BE CALLED MR. MINAMIMOTO. NOT PI-FACE, NOT MATH NERD, NOT GRIM HEAPER. MR. MINAMIMOTO. UNDERSTAND, RADIANS?!?"

The students nodded.

"SECOND!!" Mr. Minamimoto continued, "WE ARE LEARNING MATH IN THIS ROOM!! I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY ALL MORONS, BUT WITH LUCK (A ZETTA LOT OF LUCK), THAT WILL CHANGE. NO SLACKING OFF, PAY ATTENTION, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, NO FAILING!!! INCOMPLETES WILL BE TA-BOOTED OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!!"

A few kids shuffled in their seats uneasily.

"That's it. Now - on with the lesson. YOU!" The teacher slammed his arms down on poor Emma's desk and shoved his face in her space bubble. "WE'LL START OFF MITH ZETTA SIMPLE MENTAL MATH!! THE COORDINATES OF THE FIRST POINT ARE 3.14 AND 6.5458953, AND THOSE OF THE SECOND ARE 577.999 AND 503.332, FIND THE SLOPE!!"

"Let me just write this down on a piece of paper, sir-"

"YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS."

Emma stuttered, and, after the time was up, was unable to answer the problem.

"YOU ZETTA FAILED!!!"

The girl looked ashamed and stared at her feet. _Dang, were they right... his reputation of the insane math fetishist is justified... how did anyone pass this class?! How the hell am I supposed to pass!?!?_ Emma fought flustered emotions and zoned out for the rest of the lesson.

Diiinnnnnnggggg!!!_ The bell! Finally_, the exhausted student exclaimed to herself. The freshmen scrambled out of the classroom and off to lunch, Emma following behind. Steps from the doorway out, however, she was interrupted.

"Hey, radian." Emma turned around. "I'll see you here after school." The teacher sat at his desk as he said this, looking not amused and twirling a pen in his hand.

She nodded, shyly, and hurried off. _WHAT!?? Did I really fail that badly?! Holy frick, this guy's insane!! It's gonna be one long year...._ Emma shut the door behind her.

Minutes later, Mr. Minamimoto stood up in the now vacant, sunlit room. _... She's zetta cute... but she doesn't seem to like math… or my teaching style… That zettabytes. She seemed so upset..._ He looked out the window to the sky... and blushed. _Better... apologize..._

"Em! Come sit with us!" the stressed math student's friends beckoned to her, waving from a nearby lunch table. After about five minutes of readying supplies at lockers, the class was outside enjoying lunch.

"Sorry... I'm gonna sit on the hill and get my homework done..." The students at this small high school, on fair-weathered days, sat outside in the sun. The nearby hill was the hub for picnickers and studying pupils alike. Emma sat herself under a large tree, just at the top of it.

The girl pulled out a mechanical pencil and her notebook. _Better get started on this dreadful math, she reasoned. Let's see... problem number one..._

"Hey," a voice greeted from behind.

"WAH!!" Emma jumped, and quickly turned around. There, just two feet behind her, sat her favorite math teacher in the world.

"Oh hell no..."

"Huh?"

"Uh... hello!" the girl gave a small, clumsy wave in an attempt to hide her last statement. "Did you need something, Mr. Minamimoto?"

"... Um... well, actually, I was here to see if y-you... um... needed... help with homework?" the teacher stammered, in a tone that it sound like he was asking himself if that's what he wanted to say.

"No, no thanks... I think I'm good..." Emma responded. _Um... what happened? He hated me with a passion ten minutes ago..._

"No really!! I can help!" Pi-face pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper from the student's homework pile - a science worksheet - and filled it out accurately within seconds.

Emma stared in amazement at him. _Did he seriously just do that? The paper he filled out... it would've taken me at least twenty minutes... but Mr. Minamimoto did it in seconds!_

At this moment, one of the stunned girl's best friends was waddling up the hill - a blonde, fashionable young woman with skinny jeans and a pink cami (is that following the dress code?? :I) . "Hey Em, are you done yet? You really shouldn't be anti-socializing like this on the first day of school, you know..." Suddenly, the blonde realized her best friend was sitting next to the math teacher, and that they were doing homework together. "Um..."

"I CAN EXPLAIN" Emma began, waving her arms in the air.

"I think lunch period's over..." Mr. Minamimoto interrupted, pointing towards the groups of students below, now heading back into the school building.

"Oh! Well then, better get going! Bye!! Thanks for... um... the uh.. help and stuff..." Emma gathered up her supplies hastily and ran, with her friend, to their next class.

_That_, she noted, was _REALLY WEIRD_.

The final bell rang, and students were dismissed from their last period. Emma sighed in exasperation. _Time to go to weirdo's room, I guess..._

She gathered her materials, went to her locker, and packed her bag. _Let's go..._ Under the weight of her filled backpack, Emma stumbled to the math room and knocked on the half-closed door cautiously.

"Enter," said a voice from within. She gathered herself and walked in.

Mr. Minamimoto was sitting not at, but on his desk, kicking his feet, one could suppose, to amuse himself. "Sit down, radian..."he commanded, looking away nervously as he did so.

Emma herself sat on top of her desk, which coincidentally was just in front of the teacher's (ohoho).

"So..." a nervous Pi-face began.

"So..." the confused student responded.

"Sorry about uh... class today..." Mr. Minamimoto started.

"... Um... okay..."

_At least he apologized for being such a jerk..._

"So how was your day?"

_What the HELL?? He called me to come in after class so he could make SMALL TALK_? _What is with this guy?!_

"Sub-par. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now. Toodles." Emma picked up her things and began walking towards the door.

"Hey... one more thing. The homework for today... you don't have to do it." Pi-face called after.

She made a little "YES!!!!" motion to herself, then continued walking. The door had closed behind her when she came in, so Emma now tried to open it. It was locked.

"However..." Mr. Minaimimoto continued, "you will have to complete this alternative assignment." He walked up and handed the student a card, unlocked the door, and led her out. "Have a zetta nice day~". The teacher retreated to his room and shut the door.

_... Whut..._

Emma observed the card she had been given. The front read:

"Show up at school at approximately 8:00 PM.

You're going on a scavenger hunt.

The front doors will be open."

_Hah, like I'm going_, she thought to herself as she flipped the card.

"Fail to show up, and you will fail my class. ;)"

__ Great... I guess I'll be here at 8... I just hope this isn't all some scheme to kidnap me or something..._

"8:01 PM" was what Emma's watch read as she approached the front of her high school (OMFG SHE'S ONE MINUTE LATE). Taped to its doors was another card, guessed to be written by Mr. Minamimoto, that read:

"Head to the science room."

_Joy, the girl thought to herself. I hope I'm not here all night..._

Upon reaching the science room, she found a third card.

"Very good. Now to the library..."

This continued on for at least twenty minutes, and by the last card Emma was ready to strangle a kitten. She found her last card on her desk in the math room, reading:

"You've got some zetta good patience to still be here ^_^'.

Your prize is in the cafeteria.

You might need to turn on some lights."

_Well it's about time. I'm actually surprised I haven't been raped or something yet. But... what the heck is this "prize" thing he's talking about...?_ Emma quickly ran to her final destination, only to find the room was pitch black. She felt around the walls near the door for a light switch, found said object and flipped it on.

_Please tell me it's not just Mr. Minamimoto sitting in the middle of the room..._ Emma pleaded silently as she did so. The room became lit, and there, in the middle of the room, rested on a stool, sat...

a bouquet of roses.

Emma slowly walked towards them in the lonely, silent cafeteria. She picked up the flowers and fondled them gently. Another card hung out, with one thing written on the front: "π".

This made her smile a bit. She looked to see if there was anything on the back of the note, and there was -

"...

Leave this card in my room for an A ."

Sho Minamimoto ambled nervously down the halls, towards his classroom. It was a quarter to seven, and the early morning sunlight kissed the floors (yeah, I'm so cool with my personification). He sighed. _She hates me, no doubt_, he thought negatively.

The math lover stopped in front of his domain, turned slightly, and looked in. The room was still unlocked and doors wide open from the night before. Suddenly, something caught his eye.

On Minamimoto's desk was not only the card, returned from his succeeding young student, but also a vase set there, holding a trio of roses taken from the bouquet, gleaming a bloody scarlet in the morning light.

"And if you'll turn to page 47, class, you'll find a bit more about the digestive system," Ms. Yashiro blabbed on. Emma didn't bother paying attention.

_He's a strange teacher... Ugh... next period is going to be so awkward... I... maybe I could pretend I'm sick and go-_

"Miss Yeki," an angry science teacher interrupted, seemingly only inches away from Emma's face. "Would you care to join us? We're in school right now, young lady."

"Oh... sorry..." Emma rubbed her eyes. "May I ... um.. go get a drink of water?"

Ms. Yashiro scowled. "If it'll help you focus, then go." She pointed towards the door. Emma rose from her second-row seat and hurried out into the hall to find a drinking fountain. Inconveniently for her, though, the math room was just across the hall from her current class. After stepping outside, Emma stared blankly, though with interest, at what was going on in there from the hall.

"Just remember, class," the teacher sighed, "Some old horses Can always hear Their owners approaching. And when I say remember, I-"

He saw the girl in the hall out of the corner of his eye. "I..." Sho blushed. "Uh..."

Emma realized she had been seen and fled towards the drinking fountains, where she was originally going.

"Mr. Minamimoto? Why Are you blushing? Who's out there?" The math students pelted him with questions, and piled on top of each other to get a glance of the hallway and see who it was he was blushing at.

"Were you thinking about Konishi?" one inquired.

"Wha- NO." Sho regained his senses. "KONISHI IS GARBAGE. NO ONE LIKES KONISHI. I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT HOW AWFUL SHE IS. IN FACT, THAT'LL BE TODAY'S NEW LESSON, CLASS-"

Meanwhile, in the nearby social studies room, Konishi looked up from the papers she was grading. "I sense a disturbance," she noted aloud.

Cool, clear water spewed from the fountain as Emma pushed the button. She took a long, satisfying sip, then sighed.

"I can do this," she told herself, recollecting new strength. "I just have to be brave. Yeah. This isn't so hard!" She cheerfully pumped a fist into the air.

"What isn't?" asked a familiar yet obnoxious voice. Turning around, Emma saw her least favorite person, ever, Joshua Kiryu, sporting his usual stand-there-and-smirk-at-you-like-he's-better look.

"Nothing," she snorted back. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Oh, I got thirsty, so I followed you out here~," Joshua responded contently. _Yeah right,_ Emma said to herself. She, along with everyone else in the district knew that Joshua Kiryu had a huge-as-heck crush on her and had since around 5th grade.

"Well then," Emma replied, pretending to believe him, "I'm gonna head back. See ya-"

"You've got something on your mind, dear." Joshua put a hand on her shoulder from behind. She turned around to face him, slowly, with a hateful look in her eyes.

"Why Joshua, that's quite silly. Now if you'll excuse me-"

"Care sharing?" he interrupted.

Just then, the bell rang, allowing students to attend their next classes. _CRAP!_ Emma shouted in her mind. _I don't wanna go to math_!!! _Please oh please oh please oh please don't make me!! No... I... I can't think like that... I have... to be... strong..._

Math turned out to be a lot less insane then Emma imagined. She ignored Sho, Sho ignored her. Every time he walked in that direction, she would send her attention to somewhere else in the room, and at the same time to some other subject. He didn't seem to mind. The bell rang and the classroom was cleared out in less then five seconds - by that, I mean everyone but Emma was gone. She slowly collected her materials up, one by one...

"I see you did the homework..?" the teacher began, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Emma said nothing.

"Alright..." Sho began to exit the room.

"Yeah, I did..." the student responded at last, interrupting his leaving.

"... Sorry..."

Emma's eyes darted to somewhere out the window. She rested her head in her hands and let out a deep sigh.

The next day went by as normal as a day could go, minus the fact that Emma's favorite math teacher was absent.

"Wow, I'm so glad Pi-Face is out for the day," Emma's classmate Neku Sakuraba commented as he walked with her down the hall that morning. Emma remained quiet, wondering where the strange math teacher could be.

"... Aren't you?" he asked her after the moment of silence.

"Wuh... oh! Yeah. Definitely." She looked down at her boots.

"... Something the matter?" Neku gave her a concerned look.

"Nope. Nothing; absolutely not-"

"Joshua said you were troubled yesterday," he told her, smirking.

"Don't talk to Joshua. Please, please, please don't talk to Joshua..."

"I know..." the boy responded, as if she had told him this a hundred-twenty times. They both looked around gawkily, avoiding each other's eyes.

"He really cares about you, you know-"

"I know." She began walking in front of him, as if to end the conversation. Neku went back to listening to is headphones.

The following day, math class, was, as Sho might put it (if he wasn't so out of it at the time), zetta dull. The teacher was aloof and didn't seem to actually care if anyone was listening, which seemed weird considering his behavior just three days ago.

Thought it seemed to drag on forever, the class was finally over, and the students were able to grab lunch. Emma, however, yet again stayed behind to get a word to her "lover".

"Why were you out yesterday?" she asked Mr. Minamimoto as he scribbled math jarble on the board. "Sick?"

"Yeah, I had a little cold... you know how that is-"

"Lovesick?"

He paused, then set the marker down, turning his head to look at Emma. Emma only smirked. _He really was gone for that…?_ An hour seemed to pass before anyone said something.

"So I heard you're only eighteen?"

Sho nodded, as he sat down in his chair and buried his face in his hands.

"How is that possible? You're a genius!" Emma exclaimed, standing up to gesture her disbelief. Mr. Minamimoto simpered.

"Hey, you're a pretty smart kid yourself," he replied.

Emma beamed, looking both proud and assured, a collection of math and science supplies in her arms. "So I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Minamimoto?"

"… Call me Sho-"

"Is that a yes then?"

Sho nodded, smiling.

Today, the freshmen weren't allowed to eat outside, as it was drizzling. They used the indoor cafeteria, which tickled Emma's fancy considering the bouquet discovery occured there just days ago.

"Too bad we can't eat outside," moped Shiki, one of Emma's friends and girls at the table. "I mean, what's a little rain?"

Emma acceded blankly, but in reality was lost in thought. _Poor thing... he seems so sad all the time... I wonder... should I... what should I do?_

The "just a little rain" turned into a "just a huge downpour" by the end of the day: a white storm no one could see through. Everyone's attention was directed towards the weather for the last few periods. By 5:00, it turned into the worst thunderstorm of the year.

"Calling~... Someone is Calling~..." Emma's cell phone blurted as she did homework in her room that evening.

"Hello?"

"Guess who~? Hee hee... that storm's pretty rough; I was wondering if you needed someone to protect you...?"

"Joshua. How. Did. You. Get. My. Cellphone. NUMBER."

"I have my sources..."

"Was it Neku?"

"... No..."

"I'm going to KILL him..."

"Is that the way you respond when someone offers protection in a storm~?"

"Joshua, I'm perfectly fine... I appreciate your concern, but you do realize I severely dislike you."

"You won't be perfectly fine in the future..."

"Huh?"

She was answered by a dial tone, so Emma, confused, flipped her phone closed. _Crazy kid..._

"Aight', yo! It's Friday!!" said a cheerful Daisukenojo Bito the next morning as he threw his arms in the air. "First week's already done!"

_"Already"? Are you kidding me? It felt like forever..._ Emma whined in her head. The lousy weather still dragged on outside, and, as predicted, got even worse. Fortunately, she enjoyed rain. Also, tomorrow was Saturday, the best day of the week. With these things in mind, Emma smiled as she strolled down the hallway. "Today's gonna be swell!" she assured herself aloud. Beat nodded.

And she was right. The school day went smoothly (even math class :D). As the last bell rang, Emma was so eager she bolted out the door and straight to her locker. _One week done!! Weekend, here I come!_ She leaped outside happily into the horrible weather.

"Come get me, world!" Emma spread her arms apart and let the wind and rain slam against her body (_).

Other students tried to follow after, but were stopped when Principal Hanekoma came on the intercom -

"Attention students and faculty:

Due to the rough weather, all pupils and personnel are expected to stay inside the building until further notice.

Thank you."

A wave of groans swept every classroom. Who wanted to spend their afterschool time on a Friday in school?

After about fifteen minutes, the entire school was gathered in the crowded cafeteria. Doors and windows were closed, locked, and covered. A tornado warning had been issued, so kids weren't getting out any time soon. They, and teachers alike, grouped with friends and exchanged thoughts and concerns of their safety. Well, most of them. Two were looking for a certain someone.

_Damnit... I don't see Emma... please tell me she's not outside... please..._ Sho fretted. _Where is she?!?_

Outside, alone, and in the storm, Emma hugged a tree, panicking as she couldn't even stand without being blown away by the fierce winds.

"Why am I so stupid?" she whined.

Pi-face, after searching for some fifteen minutes and asking around ("just taking attendance to make sure everyone's safe" was his excuse for questioning the whereabouts of one specific girl), came to the realization that Emma was not in the building, and, instead, outside in a struggle for survival.

He stole away through the crowds and out of the cafeteria to find the way she went out. _I think she left this way, _he told himself when he had reached a certain exit.

Cautiously, the grim heaper unlocked the door. He opened it slowly, for fear of being knocked back by sudden incoming wind, and raced outside.

"Emma! Please be close, Emma!!" Mr. Minamimoto battled against the storm to look around for her. He ran from the west side to towards the front entrance of school, where he finally saw the girl- clinging to Joshua beside an uprooted tree.

The boy slowly began to rise, dragging the frightened girl with him. Still holding tight, the two began to slowly march towards the main doors. Upon reaching them, Joshua, to Sho's surprise, rose an open palm in front of the pair, muttered something, and the doors swung open. Emma, too caught up in the idea of getting to shelter safely, didn't seem to notice this, but quickly walked inside with him.

The math teacher himself retreated back to the east exit he had come from and into the cafeteria.

"Told you so~" Joshua sang when he and Emma finally got to sit down inside. Emma was wrapped in a blanket and shivering.

"T…T-told me w-what..?" she quivered.

"That you wouldn't be alright in the future, dear. And just look what happened!" the boy looked smug about being right.

"But how did you-"

Joshua put a delicate finger over her lips, quietly shushing her. "Hee hee."

9:38 AM that following morning and Emma was back in her bedroom; she was quite glad of it. The storm had carried out all through the night, so students and staff alike had to camp out in the school (mind you, there are no beds or blankets).

The exhausted Emma rested her head on her pillow and quickly nodded off.

I was asleep for... two hours...? The clock now told her that it had been two hours and twenty-seven minutes since she had last seen it - 12:05. Having regenerated some of her strength, Emma decided to ride her bike. "Just be careful," her mother warned.

She chose to take a little tour of the town and see what the damage was. A few buildings had portions burned down, at least a hundred trees had been knocked over, and homes were on their sides. The student was speechless. _There goes the "fabulous" weekend we were all hoping for…_ she complained in her thoughts. "Fortunately", the school was still 100% in tact.

"YAY!!!" Mr. H. wailed upon observing this (I can _not_ picture Mr. H. wailing). He stood outside next to Josh, both taking in what the storm had done. Emma biked past them, only to be stopped by a certain someone.

"Hey," Josh called after as she rode by. The exasperated girl pushed on the breaks. "Can I help you?" she asked him.

"Let's get lunch together," he responded in a sing-song voice.

"How about no," Emma retorted, getting her feet on the peddles again to take off.

"How about you're suspended if you don't?" she heard Mr. H.'s voice reply. She froze, then slowly biked backwards towards her new date, a baffled look plastered on her face.

"Delightful," Joshua cooed. _I love controlling other people,_ he smirked to himself. _It has the most… ravishing benefits…_"Shall we walk?"

Sighing, Emma stepped off her bike and began rolling it along next to the gentleman. _What the heck is Mr. H.'s deal? Is he like, Joshua's brother or something?!_

"Have fun, kids," Sanae caroled. _I gotta remind Joshy to stop trying things like that… even for something as unimportant as a friendly date…_

"See you again on Monday~?" Joshua politely inquired as he dropped his date off. The pair had enjoyed a nice meal at a local café (no, it wasn't Wildkat, they're not that cool), and Josh even paid the bill (what a darling!).

"I suppose so. Thanks for everything." Emma tilted her head and smiled in a cutesy-patootsy manner, making her date (_) blush. After a few more goodbyes, he finally left and Emma was free to herself. She spent the evening doing homework…

"Bwahh!!!" Beat quailed as he walked into the building with the protagonist and a few other friends. "It's Monday again, yo!! What the hell happened?!"

Neku shrugged. "Dunno. Time flies, I guess," he said. The day – no, the whole week turned out to be pretty normal for our heroine, save the fact that Sho was absent every single day. Same with the next week. And the next. And the next.

"Excuse me," Emma said, poking her head into the school office one day after hours, where a secretary sat, busily typing away. She looked up at this. "Yes?"

"Has Mr. Minamimoto… uh… quit?" the student asked nervously. _What the heck happened to him? Don't tell me he's gone because of…_

The secretary stood up and quietly stepped over into the next-door principal's office. After a minute, she walked outside again, a hand on her glasses, Mr. H. following behind.

"Emma? Is that you?" he questioned. "Ah, thought so. Who else would be so concerned about the math teacher…"

"What does that mean?" Emma asked. _Does he know?_

Hanekoma let out a laugh. "He loves you, kid! Poor thing… Heh, there's another reason why I shouldn't let'm teach here… but I'm not that cruel, am I?" the girl responded with an astonished expression. "Oh, don't tell me you thought I didn't know. I have to know. How else would he have been allowed to keep the school doors open that late at night?"

Her expression did not change. The secretary merely went back to her business. Sanae toddled slowly over to the child and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, kiddo, don't be like that." Emma bit her lip. The principal stooped down to look her in the eyes. "Alright, fine. I'll stop rambling like the old man I am and help you find him." Turning towards his worker and pointing a finger, Mr. H. had a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"Take over while I'm gone," he commanded. The secretary nodded.

_Step, step, step, step…_ Emma tiptoed through the forming puddles, following her principal around in the rain. They'd been at it for fifteen minutes now.

"Where are we going?" she hollered from behind.

"You'll see. It's not much farther now… if we're lucky, it won't be too late!" He began walking faster. Although it was storming, clouds were parted just so the slowly setting sun could shine through.

_Too late for what?_ she asked herself, figuring it would be pointless to say this aloud as Emma knew there wouldn't be a straight answer. _I guess Mr. H. is strange like that… he _knows_ things… just like Josh._

Soon, the two neared their destination – not somewhere a normal person would look, but… the city dump.

"What the…?" Emma looked around with disbelief. _We've been walking for twenty minutes, just to get to the DUMP!? Why the hell would he be at the dump!??_ Sanae only smiled, as if Pi-face _would_ be there. The two walked in.

Surrounding them were heaping piles of garbage that rose to just below the clouds. Emma looked around with astonishment. _Mr. H. probably knows best… but… is he really here?!_

Her question was answered after a while of searching, when, by chance, she had glanced up to see a figure sitting atop one of the enormous heaps. The girl froze. Mr. H. turned around when he heard her stop.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked. Following her gaze, his eyes met with the figure as well. "Well what do you know? Our friend was here after all… Let's pay him a visit, shall we?" Emma began sprinting off towards the mountain of trash. _I'll take that as a yes…_the man thought to himself, as he began jogging behind in pursuit.

"SHO!!!! SHO!!!!!!!!" the girl screamed as she raced. The silhouette turned its head when it heard its name. Coming closer, Emma saw she was right – placed on the garbage mound was her math teacher, who had been missing for weeks. She began climbing up to meet him. _What's going on!?!_ _Why is he doing this!?_

Upon reaching the top, Emma collapsed next to her teacher, then looked up to meet his eyes. He looked surprised.

"W... where... have.. y-you been?" she panted.

"Just... thinking," Sho responded, turning his face to the shadows.

"For a whole _month_? What on earth were you thinking about!?" _Don't tell me he was... not about me this whole time?! _The math teacher stood up and looked out into the distance (so dramatic).

"... .... You like Joshua, don't you?" he asked, facing her.

"Wha...ha...wha..." Emma stammered, shocked from such a false accusation, "WHAT?!? I hate that kid with a passion! What made you think..."

Sho frowned. "He saved you from that storm - he saved your life - when I couldn't... and then you went out with him..."

_True,_ the girl thought to herself, _but Joshua... Joshua knows things. It's like he can predict them. Somehow... he knew that storm was coming. Is it really fair to judge- wait... how did Pi-face know that Josh-_

The math teacher put a hand behind his neck in embarassment as he chuckled at his own foolishness: "I tried to come out and save you, but that kid beat me to it." Emma stood up and looked at him. "I wanted to be the hero, but..."

"You're just a kid," she sighed, putting a hand on her mentor's shoulder. "Now come on, let's get down from this pile." The girl grabbed his arm and they two descended, with difficulty, down the mountain, only to meet Mr. H. on the ground.

"Ah, I see we've found our missing teacher!" he chirped in his usuall optimistic voice. "Oh no... you guys are holding hands?" the principal whined, observing this detail. "Josh is gonna _kill_ me..."

Emma just titled her head and smiled.

_**A month later**_

"Attention students and faculty -- a few announcements... First of all, Ms. Mitsuki's 8th period Social Studies..."

_Yes, yes, that's all fine and grand..._Emma rested her head on her desk and ignored the intercom's chattering. _Tuesday, October 22nd: ... Nothing in particular happened today... I think we might get our SAT results sometime this week... I wonder how I did...?_ She began to zone back in.

"...and Neku Sakuraba for attaining the highest math scores on the SATs..."

Emma looked up. "Wuzzat?" Everyone else in the room began appluading. "What happened?" Neku ran up to her dask.

"Weren't you listening?" The girl shook her head. "They just made the announcement that you and I got the highest math scores on the SATs in the whole school, stupid." Her eyes widened. Neku smiled, as he saw she had understood the news. The two celebrated with a high five and got lost in the sea of praise from the rest of the class.

_Skip, skip skip..._ The merry child hopped and twirled joyously next to her blonde friend as they walked out of the school. The autumn sun was smiling down upon them.

"Can you believe it?! ME! The highest math SAT score in the school! It's just so awesome!!" Her friend nodded half-heartedly, as though she had heard this for the hundreth time (she probably had V_V). The childish girl spun around in circles, waving her arms and looking up at the sky.

Suddenly, the duo heard something from the distance.

"What was that?" asked Emma's friend (still too lazy to name her XD), turning towards the direction the sound came from. They both shrugged and kept walking.

About a minute later, the noise was heard again, only louder. This time, it came as not a subtle cry but a distinguishable word being called:

"Emma!!"

Said girl could identify that this calling came from someone with a deep voice. Someone, she assumed, who would care about an amazing math SAT score. Someone who would care about _her_ to the point that they would disrupt their schedule to follow Emma around. Someone, as you might of guessed, who is none other than Daisoukenojo Bito!! Lulz Sho Minamimoto.

The moment Emma turned around upon hearing her name, she was immediately met with a tackle that found her soon on the ground in the arms of none other than said math teacher, burying his face in her shoulder. The student took a deep exhale: not a sigh of exasperation, but rather one of sheer joy and contentment.

END

(Blonde Friend: WTF EMMA)


End file.
